1. Field of the Invention
An aspect of the present invention relates to a recoil starter for starting an engine.
2. Background Art
There is known a recoil starter structured such that a recoil rope wound around a rope reel is pulled to thereby rotate a rope reel. The rotation power of a cam to be rotated by the rotation of the rope reel is transmitted through a clutch mechanism such as a centrifugal clutch to a rotary member such as a flywheel magnet or a drive pulley connected to the crank shaft of an engine. The crank shaft of the engine is rotated through the rotary member to thereby start the engine. This type of recoil starter includes a shock absorbing and power storing member interposed between the rope reel and cam. The shock absorbing and power storing member is used to prevent an impact due to a sudden variation in a load on the engine side from being transmitted to the rope reel side. The rotation power of the rope reel is stored in the shock absorbing and power storing member, and the rotation power stored in the shock absorbing and power storing member is released to thereby facilitate the start of the engine (for example, see JP-A-2001-132591).
The above-mentioned mechanism is structured such that the rope reel to be rotated by pulling the recoil rope, the cam for transmitting the rotation power of the rope reel through the clutch mechanism to the drive pulley connected to the crank shaft of the engine, and a spring case storing therein a spring serving as the shock absorbing and power storing member are respectively rotatably supported by a support shaft provided within the case. Between the rope reel and spring case, there is interposed a one-way ratchet mechanism to thereby transmit the engine start direction rotation power of the rope reel to the spring case. When the rope reel is rotated by pulling the recoil rope, the spring case is rotated integrally with the rope reel through the one-way direction ratchet mechanism to transmit the rotation power of the rope reel to the drive pulley through the spring case. When the rotation of the drive pulley is caused to stop due to the start resistance of the engine, the rotation power of the rope reel can be stored in the spring. In order to prevent the spring case from rotating in the opposite direction, a one-way clutch is disposed between the support shaft and spring case.
According to the above-mentioned technology, the spring case storing therein the spring serving as the shock absorbing and power storing member, the rope reel having the recoil rope wound thereon, and the drive pulley for transmitting the rotation power of the rope reel to the crank shaft of the engine are respectively rotatably supported on the support shaft disposed within the case. Between the rope reel and spring case, there is interposed the one-way ratchet mechanism for transmitting the rotation power of the rope reel in the engine start direction to the spring case, and between the spring case and support shaft, there is interposed the one-way clutch for rotating the spring case only in the engine start direction. Thus, there are a large number of parts, and the structure is complicated. This results not only in an increased cost of the recoil starter but also in the increased dimension of the outside diameter shape thereof, especially, the increased axial direction dimension thereof, which retards the downsizing and weight reduction of the recoil starter.